I've tried a whole host of different image manipulating programs including the ubiquitus Gimp, but I always seem to fall back on an old version of Paint Shop Pro because it's easy to use, light-weight, fast and loads quickly.
It now has a serious competitor, and it's free. I've seen people mention it a couple of times so I thought I'd try it. I like it. It's very light-weight, very fast and very simple.
